Since 2003, Vladimir Putin has believed that Russia's geopolitical influence is largely determined by the role played by his country in the world energy markets. The oil and gas sectors are becoming increasingly crucial to the country's internal and external policy. These sectors have gradually claimed the spot occupied by the nuclear missiles from the time of the Cold War. Gazprom is currently the figurehead of these sectors in Russia having recently climbed to the third rank among the most important global companies. The Clan of St. Petersburg, led by Vladimir Putin, controls a 50.1% stake in this public company, thus providing the Kremlin with a powerful strategic tool. The ever increasing domination of this energy company has been a cause of concern for the Western European countries, which have been trying discreetly to dam the equity participation of the Russian group on the natural gas distribution in their domestic markets.

Supporters of liberalism and opening markets to foreign competition in other markets, the Russians are no longer of the same opinion when it comes to challenging the monopoly of the extraction, transport and use of its infrastructure in the export of fossil fuels which is currently enjoyed by Gazprom. What becomes evident in this contradiction? A real inconsistency in the thinking of Russian elites or rather a smart strategy to replenish the coffers of the Russian state while allowing the country to exercise control on the European and international scene with the power to deprive the European countries of natural gas and oil?

Russia continues to apply its communist principles in the management of its resources and Gazprom in the energy sector while benefiting fully from the advantages of a liberal economy with its customers and partners, which are mainly European countries. Finally, the pressure exerted on these European countries by threatening to deliver its oil to other countries like China is rather a smart way to raise prices and thus inflate profits while silencing critics targeting the Russian political system.

The Gazprom enterprise is first of all situated in the global market . Gazprom is a Russian company for production and transportation of natural gas and oil after the gas department of the former USSR.

Tags: Gazprom; Russian company; production and transportation of natural gas and oil; strategic weapon in the Russian state;